


Endearment

by Aerdise_Iadeser



Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: First Love, Other, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:53:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27727105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aerdise_Iadeser/pseuds/Aerdise_Iadeser
Summary: On a crisp autumn night Bella leaves her local college where she's pursuing her Masters Degree to go home to her Husband, Edward Cullen and her daughter Renesmee, only to find that her daughter is gravely ill. What is causing this condition and how will she and the rest of the Cullen's cure her. Please R&R
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Jasper Hale, Edward Cullen/Bella Swan, Jacob Black/Renesmee Cullen
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter One

One

Bella closed her textbook. Her last course of the night was: Pleasure, Power and Profit: Race and Sexualities in a Global Era. In the last four years since becoming a vampire she'd already earned her bachelor’s degree in English Literature and she'd recently started working on getting her Masters. The class wasn't her favorite, in truth she preferred reading and studying the classics, but she found her professor to be fascinating and it was her love for the subject matter which had worked its way into Bella's interest.

When she made it to her car twilight was already shying into a crisp autumnal evening. The foliage blurred red and orange under the ocher streetlamps and she could smell the hint of rain in the air. Several of her classmates liked to unwind at the library or grab a beer after class but most days all she wanted to do was get home to her husband, Edward Cullen, and her daughter, Renesmee. The drive from Port Angeles Community College to their home in Forks took a human a little over an hour, but Bella could easily do it in half that time.

The drive was uneventful, the landscape eerie in its stillness. The roads unwinding out before her like unfurling black ribbons.

When she pulled into the long driveway up to the Cullen house she was greeted by Esme, who was arranging flower baskets on the porch.

"They look nice," Bella commented.

Esme smiled. "I love the way they look in the moonlight. How were your classes today?"

Bella told her they were fine and left her to continue her decorating. Esme was currently taking an online course on interior design.

Once inside she was met with semi-silence. With her vampiric hearing she could tell that Carlisle was working upstairs in his study. The sound of his inhuman typing was like the drumming sound of rain.  
Her siblings, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett were out on a hunt. Just thinking about it made her mouth water and her throat burn. She'd need to hunt soon; she'd gone too long already.  
She found what she was looking for in the kitchen. Edward had his back to her while he washed dishes at the sink. When she came up behind him, she slid her arms around his abdomen, sliding them down his front, and inhaling his rich scent.

"I've been waiting all day for that," she confessed. Swiping her nose along his shirt.

Edward let the dishes sink quietly into the soapy water and covered her hands where she touched him. He let his head fall back against her. "Me too."

She felt electrified where he touched her, and she felt herself burn with need.

"What are you up to?" She asked, attempting to distract herself from her own need.

She could hear the smile in his voice. His thoughts had taken him to the same place, and she knew it. "Cleaning Nessie's lunch pail."

Although it had only been four years since Bella had given birth to their daughter, she already had the appearance of a twelve-year-old, and after years of begging, Bella and Edward had only recently agreed to allow her to attend the local Forks elementary school as a 6th grader.

The adjustment had been especially hard for Bella. She still, and would always, maintain the appearance of her human age, and visually, she was too young to publicly claim to be Renesmee's mother. On her daughter’s transcripts she was labeled as a sister and legal guardian, not a biological mother.

"Where is Ness, by the way?" she asked.

Edward shrugged. "Back at the cottage. She wanted to take a nap."

Bella raised her eyebrow. "A nap…?" Initially, she'd been concerned that the public-school atmosphere would be too overstimulating for her daughter and her inherited gifts.

Bella lowered her shield and allowed her husband to read her thoughts.

The intimacy of this action always made Edward shiver. "I don't think it's that. She didn't seem upset or overwhelmed, just tired."

The guilt she felt at being away from her daughter for so much of the day while she was in school had been overpowering most days, but she was always put at ease that Edward was always close by.  
Bella chewed on her thumbnail. "I'm going to go check on her."

The walk to the cottage was done in under a minute with her vampire abilities. When she reached the entryway she paused, knowing Edward was just a few steps behind her. He reached out for her instinctually, and she held his hand in return.

The cottage was quiet. Edward had lit a fire earlier and it crackled hypnotically in the hearth. The spines in the bookcases glistened in the natural light.  
Bella and Edward made their way to the back of the cottage where their daughters’ room was. Upon opening the door, they were greeted by darkness, but Bella didn't need light to see or find the sleeping form of her daughter in the bed.

"Sweetheart, are you okay?" she stroked her palm across her daughter’s damp forehead.

Renesmee mumbled, "your cold hand fells so nice."

Although Bella could feel her daughter’s warmth and life blood, she had difficulty gauging temperatures with her preternaturally cold skin.

Edward sat on the other side of their daughters’ bed and felt her forehead as well.  
"Baby," he asked his daughter, "are you feeling alright?"

Renesmee mumbled an incoherent response.

"Bella," Edward looked at her, she could see the concern in her husband's eyes. "Can you go get the thermometer, please?"

Where was it? Bella knew they had at one point had one in the cottage. She made short work of searching the kitchen drawers – nothing. She checked the hall closet – again, nothing. As she began her search of the master bathroom, she could hear the frightening sound of her daughter’s teeth chattering from the other room.

"Carlisle, Bella." Edward's voice was frantic. "Get Carlisle."

As Bella ran, a hazy blur of supernatural movement, passing her daughters doorway she could see Edward holding Renesmee down as her body started to convulse.


	2. Chapter Two

Two

Carlisle was examining their daughter. He knew it would be futile to ask either Bella or Edward to leave the tiny room, so he made do with their anxious crowding.

In the half hour he had been here he'd already administered anti-seizure medication twice – Renesmee’s fever burning through it rapidly, each time it was given to her.

Bella and Edward were holding onto each other in the corner of the room. Carlisle ached for them, as he had always felt the sadness or anguish of his own children deeply when they were in pain.   
Edward’s voice was on edge, even as he stroked his wife’s back comfortingly. “Carlisle, talk to us, what’s happening?”

In the months before Renesmee’s birth the entire family had scoured every resource they could think of to unravel the legends of half-vampire children. Although the resources were scarce nothing in the documentation that they were able to find mentioned anything about illness. In fact, on the contrary, it noted the superior health of any child descended from a vampire. 

The sudden shifting of air startled them all as the door to the cottage slammed open. “Bella?” It was Alice’s voice breaking the silence open. 

Bella sank in relief. “Alice?” within moments Alice had entered the tiny bedroom, with Jasper and the other’s close at her heels. She and Bella reached out for each other. “What did you see?”

“Her fever,” Alice confessed. “Carlisle…?” The panic in Alice’s voice was frightening. 

“She does have a fever,” Carlisle told them, “the symptoms present like a viral infection. We’ll need to do blood work to run a few tests.”

The vampire’s in the room tensed. Nessie’s blood was different from other humans, but it still presented enough similarities to cause a panic. 

“Jasper,” Alice whispered. “Will you go back to the house and bring me my coat? No need to rush.”

Jasper kissed Alice’s forehead. “I’m sorry,” he said to the room at large.

Bella spoke up quickly. “No one blames you.”

“I’m sorry too,” Emmett confessed. He and Japer both left the room. 

“I want to say,” Rosalie told them, but Edward could read Alice’s thoughts and stiffened.

“Rose, will you wait in the living room, please?” 

Rosalie angered quickly, “I can handle it, Edward. I’m Nessie’s aunt.” She and Renesmee had always been close, in some respects Rosalie was closer to her daughter than Bella was. 

Edward gripped Bella’s shoulder, rigid from anxiety. 

Alice defused the tension, easily. “I’m her aunt, too.” She gripped Rosalie’s shoulders lightly. “Let’s go wait in the living room. There’s barely enough room for Carlisle to work, even now. We’ll come back and check on her as soon as he’s done.”

When they left it was a relief but also a painful reminder of what they were up against. “I never should have let her go to that school…” Bella argued, absently. She was biting her thumbnail again.

Edward stroked her back. “Going to that school was all she talked about for months. She wanted a normal life.”

“Normal,” Bella mused. “You both are so alike.” She remembered how desperately Edward had wanted her to cling to normalcy while she was still human. She also remembered how desperately Bella strove to become like him. Vampire. Immortal. To move effortlessly and forceful into the next portion of her life. 

“I’m going to take blood now,” Carlisle interrupted them. 

“Bella,” Alice called from the other room. “You can come out here and wait with us, too.”

Edward tensed as Carlie inserted the needle into their daughter’s arm. The room exploded with the scent of blood, crashing into them with unapologetic intensity. 

Bella’s knees bent and she fell forward, as though she might lunge. Edward held her up. Although Bella would never harm her daughter the hot, salty, scent of blood was a craving she could not deny. Renesmee’s blood only held small portions of human life and that held enough power to bring Bella to her knees. 

Edward struggled, as well, but he had decades of practice to ignore the alluring aroma whereas Bella only had a scant number of years. “You need to feed,” Edward told her. “You shouldn’t go this long; it’s causing you too much pain.”

“I can take it,” Bella said through gritted teeth. 

“I know you can.” He pulled her even closer and pressed a kiss onto her forehead. 

It had been more than a week since Bella had disappeared into the forests around Forks to hunt. She and Edward had decided long ago that only one of them would leave their daughter at a time. Their war with the Vulturi was still very much on their minds and the uncertainty of their futures haunted all of them. 

“All done.” Carlisle told them. He tucked the vile of Renesmee’s blood inside his pocket and slide the window open slightly to clear the air. 

Edward was grateful, “that’s better.”

“What do we do now?” Bella asked. 

“I’ll run some tests. I gave her a sedative to help her sleep, but her fever will likely burn through it in the next few hours. We need to keep her cool, try to keep the fever from getting any higher. As soon I run the test’s I’ll have a better idea about that’s really going on behind the scenes. We need to keep her hydrated, and in a few hours, we’ll see if she can eat anything.”

Bella crossed the room to where her daughter slept in the bed. The blankets had been removed and being mindful of the fluid drip in Renesmee’s arm she carefully joined her on the bed. Maneuvering slightly, she laid down and lifted Ness until she was laying completely on her chest. Bella’s cold vampiric limbs would be the best way to cool her daughter’s raging temperature. After Carlisle left Edward did the same, taking up the vacant spot on the bed, and wrapped his arms around his wife and child. 

Neither Edward nor Bella were capable of sleep, but they were silent as they held each other closely. They didn’t worry about how much time was passing but sometime later Alice poked her head through the doorway. 

“Bella,” she whispered. “Jacob’s about to call.”


	3. Chapter Three

Three

Bella’s cell phone rang moments after Alice ducked out of the door. She watched the screen light up with a smiling photo of Jacob Black—it was a photo she had taken last year when the family vacationed in the woods near Lake Chelan. He was leaning up against a dirt bike, his face caught laughing, while Ness sat astride it, pretending to rev the engine by blowing a raspberry with her lips. 

She let the phone ring. And ring. 

“I should answer,” she said. 

Edward didn’t answer her, but he slid their daughter off Bella’s chest and positioned her more firmly against his. 

The phone stopped ringing, but within moments he dialed again, and his face filled the screen again. “We should tell him.”

Edward again was silent. Renesmee stirred slightly, and he stroked his daughter’s hairline, comfortingly. Bella wondered if her daughter was piking up on the strange emotions in the room though her parents touch, even now, as she lay in a fitful sleep. 

The phone blackened with silence again. Bella waited. The ringing started again.

“He came to the main house a while ago,” Edward told her. “They couldn’t lie to him. Alice says he’s on his way here now.”

Bella picked up the phone. “Jake, liste—”

Jacob’s voice was clipped. “What’s going on? Phantom of the Opera Barbie said that Ness is sick. Why didn’t you answer the last three times I tried to call?”

“Jake,” Bella tried to sooth. 

His voice broke. “Why didn’t you call me?”

She felt her ire rise. “We’re her parents, Jake.”

Jacob scoffed. “You know what she is to me. You know I can’t just hear something like that and not react like this. She’s everything to m—”  
“Don’t finish that sentence, please. She’s four years old.”

“She’s not a normal girl, Bella. Physically she’s almost a teenager…”

Edward growled.

From the other end of the phone Jake went on, “in a few years she’ll be a grown woman.”

Bella laid her head in her open palm. Worry, freight, and disgust all weighed heavily on her mind. 

“I’m coming over. I’m almost there.”

She could hear him running now. He wasn’t out of breath, but she could hear the hard slap of his feet against the ground, and his voice, though still physically far away, was becoming easier to hear without the need of a cell phone.

“Wait,” Edward barked, startling Bella. “Carlisle is coming too, he’s right behind Jacob. He says not to let Jacob inside. He could make Ness worse.”

“Jacob,” Bella warned. “I know you want to see her, but you can’t come in the cottage right now.” 

The door slammed open and she could suddenly hear Carlisle’s soothing voice trying to calm Jacob down from the doorway to the cottage.

“Go,” Edward told her. 

Reluctantly, Bella left her daughter. 

“Jacob, I know you want to see her, but we can’t risk it now. Anyone with human blood could have transmitted this design to her.”

“What do you mean?” Jacob argued. Carlisle had to physically retrain him from entering the cottage, and Jacob was putting up a good fight. “She’s been around me since the day she was born. You can’t stop me from seeing her.”

“Jake,” Bella warned. “Stop. She’s sleeping. If she wakes up, you could scare her.”

Jacob took a deep breath, steadying himself. Carlisle released him. 

“Talk to me. What’s going on here. What’s wrong with her.”

“I ran some tests,” Carlisle told him. “It appears to be a viral infection. Like the flu. She had a very high fever and earlier tonight she had a small seizure.”

Jacob tensed. “A seizure?” He struggled to get through the doorway again, but this time Bella was the one to stop him. Her newborn strength still meant that she was the strongest one in the house.   
She warned, “Let him finish.”

“Ness has had very little contact with other human’s her whole life. Besides Charlie, Sue, and Jacob, and the other members of the pack she just hasn’t encountered anyone else.”

“Could she have gotten this from someone at that school?” Bella asked.

Jacob rolled his eyes. “Ness loves that school. She wants to go. She wants to be around other kids her age.”

Bella had to restrain herself from punching him when he used the word ‘kid,’ when he so recently referred to her as being on the brink of womanhood. 

“Okay, how do we make her better?” Bella asked. 

“I brought some antibiotics. We’ll do a few rounds of this and see where we end up tomorrow. I’ll go see her, now. Excuse me.” Carlisle made to leave them, but Jacob stopped him.

“Can I see her? I’ll mask up, wear a hazmat suite, whatever. Just let me see her.”

Carlisle felt for him. “I’m sorry, Jake. We just can’t risk further exposure right now.” He paused, thinking. “Why don’t we use the video function on the phone. You can see her, and if she wakes up, she can see you. It’s not the same, I know,” he touched his arm, comfortingly. “But it’s better than nothing.”

Jacob nodded in understanding, but when Carlisle left them, he glared at Bella. “Will you actually pick up the phone when I call this time?”

“Of course.”

Jacob dialed and even though they were still standing next to each other Bella answered with the swipe of her finger and changed the call to video. Jacob did the same. 

“I’m going to stand outside her window, okay?”

“Okay!”

When she walked back to Renesmee’s room she could see Jacob hovering on the other side of the window from the outside. Bella shifted the phone so he could get a better look at Ness. 

“What’s her temperature now?” Jacob asked 

“102°, currently. She was at 104°, earlier.”

“So, she’s getting better, than?”

Carlisle shrugged. “In a way, yes. She has been laying up against two vampires for quite some time, now, and I’m sure that’s helping the situation.”

They could hear Jacob sigh loudly from behind the window glass. The phone just echoed it. 

Carlisle soothed. “Nessie, can you hear me?” To their surprise Nessie did start to stir. “Ness, I’m going to give you some medicine now. I’m going to add it into your intravenous drip at your bedside. This will help your fever and help you sleep.” Carlisle touched their daughters’ hand so that she could see everything that Carlisle was explaining. 

“Is she awake?” Jacob broke the silence. Through the phone he could see her eyes flutter open. 

“Is that Jake?” Renesmee asked.

Bella cupped her daughter’s check. “Yes, it is. Do you want to talk to him?”

Ness nodded and took the phone from her mother, shakily. 

“Hey, Pretty Girl,” Jacob said. 

Renesmee was so tired. “Hey… Where are you?”

Jacob knuckled the glass. “Right outside your window.”

“How come you’re outside?”

Jacob signed again. “Well, it might be safer for you if I stay outside for a while. You’ve got a fever. Me being in there could make it worse.”

“I think you should come inside,” Renesmee said matter of factley.

Jacob laughed; his genuine mirth always lightening the mood. “I think I should come inside, too. I want to see you. You didn’t tell me about what you did in school today. I got you a present too. I was heading over here to give it to you.”

“What is it?”

“Well,” Jacob edged. “I can’t give it to you until you get better… So, you’re just going to have to hurry up and get better so I can, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Promise?” Jacob pushed.

Renesmee reassured him. “Promise.”

“That’s my girl.”

Renesmee yawned. 

“Are you getting sleepy?” Jacob asked. Renesmee nodded. “I think you should sleep now. Sleep and get better, okay?” He pressed his open hand against the glass and Renesmee reached out passed her parents and did the same.


	4. Chapter Four

Four

Renesmee slept fitfully into the night. Carlisle came back twice to administer more antibiotics and check on her vitals. Each time he came Bella and Edward were hopeful that things had changed for the better, but each time Carlisle shook his head. The last time he said, “Just a few more hours… I’m sure her fever will drop in a few hours.”

The vampires could hear Jacob growling from beyond the window.

“Jacob, that’s enough!” Bella snarled, dragging her hands through her tangled locks. Edward steadied her with a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

Carlisle made eye contact with Edward. A silent conversation became the undercurrent of the room. 

Bella reacted immediately, “What? What aren’t you telling me?”

Jacob leaned closer against the glass. His cheek and forehead flushed with the windowpane. 

Edward frowned before pulling Bella tighter. “Carlisle needs to take more blood.”

Although she tried not to, Bella’s knees sank under the weight of the scent memory of blood. Edward held her up. 

“It’s necessary,” Carlisle reasoned. “I need to see if the medicine is doing anything to improve the infection.”

Bella squared her shoulders. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Pulling her aside, Edward whispered. “Bella, you’re not. You barely had control last time. You’re even hungrier now. I can see it in your eyes.”

Bella raised her hand up to her face, instinctively, rubbing her eyes as though she could change their color with a forceful touch. It had been hours since she looked at herself, hours since she’d left Ness’ bedside. Had she really been in class just a few hours earlier? 

Edward knew what she would say. She could see it in his face that he would know what she would say. “I can’t leave her.” It was a whisper, a breath, a prayer.

He gripped her tighter, steadying her. “I know. You have to take care of this, though. You have to feed. You have to keep up your strength for her. For me.” He kissed her forehead. “Alice will be here in a second.”

Before Bella could breathe another word, Alice sashayed through the cottage doorway. She moved to Carlisle first, a quick dart, feathering across the room. She handed him a vile and syringe, which he seemingly forgot back at the house. He smiled in gratitude. “You didn’t know you would need it when you left the house.” She told him, confidentially. 

“Bella,” Alice continued. “We’ll be as quick as we can. You shouldn’t be here when he draws blood again. We should go hunt.”

Bella’s voice was matter of fact. “Did you see something?”

Alice was equally nonplused. “Yes!”

“I would never hurt my child.” Her tone was threatening. 

Alice shrugged. “You’re a vampire and a mother. The hunger can outweigh a maternal bond when you’re hungry enough. There is nothing stronger than the pull of blood. It takes centuries of strength to hold up against it.”

Bella prickled, her temper flaring. “I can’t leave her.”

“Yes,” Edward told her. “You can. I want you to. I saw…” 

He didn’t need to finish the thought. Bella knew that Edward had a constant tether to Alice’s visions. Whatever she saw flowed through him like water running through a fissure of rock. It was like gravity.   
“Edward…?” She argued, helplessly. 

He held her. Her body molding against his. She held onto him with equal force. “Go,” his voice was heavy, raw. “Go. You’ll be back before she wakes up.”

Alice grabbed her hand. “We’ll be quick.”

Grasping for anything that she could use, Bella said, “Jacob?” 

But even Jacob could see how much she needed to feed. Bella was petite; even know, in her vampiric shell she seemed breakable. Looking at her now he was reminded of her gauntness during her last few days of human life when she was still carrying Ness. “You need to go, Bells. I won’t leave her.” 

His conviction was immovable. She couldn’t argue with it. 

Alice squeezed her fingertips. “Let’s hurry. I know just where to go?”

As she and Alice ran from the cottage and into the woods, Bella looked back. From her position in the trees she could see Edward hovering at the window opposite Jacob. His body was bent over, heavy with trepidation and grief. She felt her own body calling out for him, desperate to return, but she knew that she had to hunt tonight. 

Once sated, she could return to her family.


	5. Chapter Five

Five

Alice led her deep into the woods. 

The rain had become a steady drizzle and there was a moon-tinted mist rising up from the forest floor. Bella could feel her skin crawl with anxiety. 

“Just up ahead,” Alice called.

Hunting with Alice was less about hunting and more about following. There had been many times when she and Alice had hunted together where Bella had caught a scent only to be warned by Alice that she was eventually loose it. 

Passing the clearing, Bella could finally smell their pray. An aged buck grazed, obliviously in the moonlight. Alice stalked to the left, while Bella flanked him on the right. Their communication was in quick facial expressions. They had hunted together for years and knew each other’s tells.  
Alice moved first. Summersaulting into the stag’s view. The animal startled for less than half a second before Bella pounced. Her feet catapulting her up until she landed astride the beast. Her arms encircled him and her fangs sank deep into the bulging vein in its throat.   
The blood was an epiphany, sharp, and salty. It had such a strong weight to it that it made Bella’s body feel more tethered to the earth. She drank her fill, gulping the blood down greedily. She felt intoxicated from it. In her delirium she felt Alice approach. Felt her kneel down and take one of the buck’s thighs into her hand to find the next largest vein before she too began to suck. 

When Bella fell back, breathless and dazed, against the soggy ferns and moss of the forest she tried to gather her thoughts. She was still hungry and her throat still ached. Even though she was desperate to get back to Edward and Nessie, she knew she had to continue to feed, before she was strong enough to return. 

Alice was in a similar situation. “The rain here always reminds me of Paris.,” her voice was casual, offhanded, but it pulled Bella out of her racing thoughts and into the present. 

“Paris?”

“Yep.” She pulled her fingers around her lips, cleaning away the blood. “I lived in Paris during the war.”

“The war? Which war?”

“WWII, in 1942.”

Bella raised an eyebrow. “Jasper?”

“It was before I met him,” Alice countered. She helped Bella woozily get to her feet. 

“What were you doing in Paris?” 

“Well,” Alice began as they started to move through the forest, looking for their next kill. “I had seen Jasper, and Edward, and Carlisle and Esme but I knew I wouldn’t meet them for many years yet. I was drifting for years and I was just starting to experiment with feeding only from animals and I ended up in France. I wanted to help during the war effort.”

“Oh yeah?”

Alice nodded in the affirmative. “I went by Marie-Alais Baillairgé back then and I worked with the French Resistance.”

“You’re kidding?” Bella was genuinely surprised; she never knew this about Alice. 

“It’s true. What better spy than one who couldn’t di—oh look.” She gestured through the tree line and Bella could see the outline of a big cat stalking through the dark.

“She’s hunting us,” Bella noted.

Alice smirked. “She is.”

After they had finished another feeding Bella asked, “Why did you leave France?”

Smiling, Alice said, “I could feel Jasper getting closer to me—it would be years yet, honestly—but he was getting closer. Every day closer. I knew I would find him in America, so I went back. Even back then, before I even met him, I knew I didn’t want to miss him. Not even for a day.”

Bella smiled, feeling her own tug to return back to the cottage. “Tell me what you’ve seen?” 

Alice sighed. “It’s not like that. The visions—they’re not linier. It’s not a domino effect where one thing brings on another. I can see Nessie waking up in the morning just fine, but I can also see her…”

“What?” Bella pressed.

Alice looked down, not wanting to see Bella. “I can see her dying in three days...”

Bella growled.

“…But I can also see Edward investing stock in a company that will one day make electric cars.”

Bella felt her teeth clench. “…Electric cars?”

“Yes. The specific technology hasn’t been invented yet, but someday Ness is going to be very concerned about the environment and Edward wants to support her. Also, it’s better for the planet. Climate change is going to be more and more important moving forward into the future.”

“So, you see,” Alice went on. “I can see a million possible outcomes. Everything changes with every heartbeat. There are days when I can see Jasper and I together for centuries, and then there are other days when I can only see us together for a few more hours.”

“But how do we fix this? How can I make her better?”

“I think, in this respect, it’s about decision and research. Something needs to happen to cause a decision. Once that decision is made another decision will change it.” Alice reached out for Bella. “I’m still looking. I’m always watching.”

Bella held onto her friend. Her dearest sister. “I know, Alice. I know.”

“We should go back. It’ll be dawn soon.”


	6. Chapter Six

Six

Before Jacob knew it, the sun was rising. It had been a cold misty night, but he didn’t mind the weather. His temperature always ran hot—too hot to handle, he might joke, and most importantly any discomfort was manageable as long as it meant he could be close to Renesmee. 

He had paced outside her window all night. Watching as Carlisle took more blood from her limp arm and retreated back to the Cullen house for further tests. After that he tried to keep his head as clear as possible. Edward couldn’t help but read his thoughts and more than once he had been embarrassed by the direction that they strayed. 

He had hoped Ness would wake up. He wanted to talk to her. Hear her laugh. He loved the parts of the evening when he would come over and she would tell him about her day. Before, it was how much she wanted to go to school. What she hoped to learn and the friends and situations she’d find herself in. Now that Bella and Edward finally relented and let her go, her chatter was about what she was learning—she liked math (which he felt came from Edward’s genes) and hated English (which was the opposite of Bella). She liked how the day was divided into blocks with different subjects. In her years of home schooling with the Cullen’s she often did what she wanted to without structure. 

Jacob heard Edward’s voice from the other side of the window glass. “Bella will be back soon.” He looked up, made eye-contact with the vampire. “You should go get some rest. And maybe… put a shirt on.”

Jacob smirked, dismissing Edward’s comment. A lot of people—mostly other men, vampires included, thought he liked wandering around shirtless for vanity, but really it was just necessity. He felt so hot sometimes that the thought of a shirt made him feel claustrophobic. His skin burned. He couldn’t explain it other than to say that when you felt like you were on fire, you’d do anything to feel relief.   
“Sure,” Jacob finally interjected to fill the silence. “Bella will be back soon. Doesn’t mean I’m going to leave Ness.”

Edward reasoned, “You will eventually have to sleep. Supernatural or not, that is a faculty you still have to take care of.”

Jacob scoffed. “We’ll see.”

He heard the ruffle of footsteps in the woods before he saw the figure approached. Jacob knew who it was. Blondie would sneak up on him, and the fairy-princess one was off with Bella. He knew neither of the boys, Hulk and Whinny, would come around now. Carlisle was quick, and this figure was slow. Too slow for a vampire; a deliberate walk, steady and loud enough to not startle him. 

“Esme,” Jacob breathed as she burst forth from the darkness of the tree line. The sun was rising behind her. Her smile was warm and sympathetic as it always was.

“No news from Carlisle,” she told him quick, knowing it would be the first thought on his mind. “He’s working on the latest blood sample. I wanted to come down and see her, and—”

Jacob interjected. “She’s still asleep.” 

Esme smiled, her usual calmness and candor put him at ease. “I know.” She had come close enough to stand beside him, but not so close as to make him feel uncomfortable. “I’ve missed seeing Seth and Leah, are they well?”

“Yeah,” Jacob cracked a smile, despite himself. “Leah’s still on the Rez, she’s been teaching pre-school.”

Esme startled, “Teaching?”

He grinned. “Yeah, I know. She kind of loves it. She was dating this townie guy, some old friend of Bella’s, a guy named Mike Newton,” Jacob rolled his eyes. “She kicked him to curb a while ago, I think. She’s more of a lone wolf, though, you know what I mean?”

Esme laughed. “I do. I understand.”

“And Seth, well,” Jacob went on, “He’s Seth. Still little Seth even though he’s about to graduate from high school.”

“Really?”

Jacob’s smile widened. “Yeah, he got a scholarship to The University of Washington.”

“That’s wonderful!”

“Yeah, it is. Harry would be really proud of him. Of both of them.”

Esme’s face softened. “I’m sure it would. Sue must be thrilled.”

“Oh yeah. She had Charlie bought out the team store in Port Angeles. Everything is Purple and Gold and Huskies this and Huskies that. I think Charlie might even be tempted to buy a Huskie.”  
“Ness always said she wanted to go to the University of Washington.”

“I know.” Jacob’s voice grew with conviction. “She will.”

“Of course, she will. Carlisle will figure out what’s going on with her. I don’t doubt that for a second.”

The conversation lulled. “I brought you this,” Esme said to fill the silence. She handed Jacob an aluminum-wrapped package. It was warm when Jacob took it. Peeling back the foil he saw that it was a steaming egg sandwich. 

Jacob couldn’t help but laugh as the smell hit him and his stomach growled. “Thanks, Esme.” He took a quick bite and moaned from relief. “This reminds me of our patrol days when the pack was at war, and then the whole Vulturi mess.”

“Those were dark days, but we always felt safer with you, and Leah, and Seth here.”

Bella and Alice burst through the trees, breaking up their conversation. Jacob had taken another large bite of sandwich and when Bella was close enough, he yelled. “No change. She’s still asleep.”

Bella looked to Esme. “Anything from Carlisle?”

Esme reached out to Bella and embraced her fiercely. “He’s back at the house with the second blood sample. He’ll come back down as soon as he knows anything.”

Bella’s shoulders fell. “I’m going to go see her.” She reached back for Alice. Saying a silent thank you to her sister before disappearing back into the cottage. 

Alice wrinkled her nose from the dog smell she claimed always lingered when Jacob was nearby. Jacob just rolled his eyes. 

“Did you have a good hunt?” Esme asked Alice. 

Jacob didn’t pay much attention to the blood talk—anything beyond the occasional rare stake was too much information for him. Instead he let his body and his eyes drift back to the window where he could catch a good glimpse of Renesmee. 

She was still asleep, or so he could tell. Edward was sitting beside her bed, one arm held out to Bella while the other was stroking Ness’ forehead. 

Jacob pulled his phone from his pocket and flipped the screen up. Bella’s cell was his second speed dial. He was saving the first one for Ness when she got her first phone. 

Alice didn’t need to see what he was doing. “She’s still sleeping, Jacob. Edward and Bella will want to be alone with her.”

Normally Jacob wouldn’t give her the time of day but her manic-pixie-vampire-girl eyes unnerved him. “I want to hear for myself.”

Alice shrugged. “Suite yourself, but she won’t be up for hours.”

Bella answered the phone. He could hear agitation and annoyance in her voice. “What is it, Jacob?”

“Is she awake?” He knew the answer. Although he would never admit it, he knew Alice was right. 

Bella sighed. “No, Jake. She’s still sleeping.”

“What’s her temperature?”

“Edward just took it, it’s still 102°.”

“Then she’ getting better. It was 104° earlier. That’s what you said.”

“I don’t know, Jake.”

Jacob knew he was grasping at any loose ends that he could find. He knew how desperate his voice sounded, but he couldn’t conceive of a world where Ness wasn’t awake and alright and safe.   
“Hey, Esme?” He turned back to the vampire, who seemed startled momentarily by his address to her. “Do you know how much longer Carlisle might be with the tests?”

Esme reached out for him, placed her hand comfortingly on his arm. “I don’t know how long it will take, I’m sorry.” She turned to Alice, “Do you see anything?”

Alice’s expression changed from calm to worried, which made the pit of Jacob’s stomach drop. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen anything.”

Jacob knew it was a lie. But part of him wanted to believe it as truth. 

“We just have to wait,” Esme told him. “I’m sure we’ll know more soon.”


End file.
